Hungary telegram form with imprinted stamp c

philately Philately (; ) is the study of postage stamps and postal history. It also refers to the collection and appreciation of stamps and other philatelic products. Philately involves more than just stamp collecting or the study of postage; it is poss ...

, an imprinted stamp is a stamp printed onto a piece of

postal stationery A piece of postal stationery is a stationery item, such as a stamped envelope, letter sheet, postal card, lettercard, aerogram or wrapper, with an imprinted stamp or inscription indicating that a specific rate of postage or related servi ...

such as a

stamped envelope A stamped envelope or postal stationery envelope (PSE) is an envelope with a printed or embossed indicium indicating the prepayment of postage. It is a form of postal stationery. United Kingdom The Sherborn Collection in the British Library Phi ...

postal card Postal cards are postal stationery with an imprinted stamp or indicium signifying the prepayment of postage. They are sold by postal authorities. On January 26, 1869, Dr. Emanuel Herrmann of Austria described the advantages of a ''Correspon ...

letter sheet In philatelic terminology a letter sheet, often written lettersheet, is a sheet of paper that can be folded, usually sealed (most often with sealing wax in the 18th and 19th centuries), and mailed without the use of an envelope, or it can also ...

letter card In philately, a lettercard or letter card is a postal stationery item consisting of a folded card with a prepaid imprinted stamp. That it is folded over gives the writer twice as much room for the message compared with a postal card. The messag ...

aerogram An aerogram, aerogramme, aérogramme, air letter or airletter is a thin lightweight piece of foldable and gummed paper for writing a letter for transit via airmail, in which the letter and envelope are one and the same. Most postal administration ...

or wrapper.Carlton, R. Scott. ''The International Encyclopedic Dictionary of Philately''. Iola WI: Krause Publications, 1997, p.117. . The printing may be flat upon the surface of the paper, or embossed with a raised relief.Van Gelder, Peter J.; ''The Collectors' Guide to Postal Stationery'', A Squirrel Publication, Shrewsbury, UK (1997) An imprinted stamp is also known as unadhesive stamp or

indicium In philately, indicia are markings on a mail piece (as opposed to an adhesive stamp) showing that postage has been prepaid by the sender. ''Indicia'' is the plural of the Latin word ''indicium'', meaning distinguishing marks, signs or identifyi ...

. The cost of the item of stationery includes the manufacture of the item and the charge for postal service. The design of imprinted stamps often bears a close resemblance to normal adhesive stamps of the same country and era. It may be a

definitive Definitive may refer to: * ''Definitive'' (TV series), an American music television series * Definitive stamp, a postage stamp that is part of a regular issue of a country's stamps available for sale by the postal service See also * Definitene ...

commemorative stamp A commemorative stamp is a postage stamp, often issued on a significant date such as an anniversary, to honor or commemorate a place, event, person, or object. The ''subject'' of the commemorative stamp is usually spelled out in print, unlike def ...

Collecting

In the early days of philately, it was common to cut the imprinted stamp from the rest of the item and retain only the stamp. This is known as a

cut square In philately a cut-out is an imprinted stamp cut from an item of postal stationery such as a postal card, letter sheet, aerogramme or wrapper that may have been used as a normal stamp. Historical aspects In Great Britain the postal use of cut-out ...

. In the U.K. this is known as ''

cut-out Cut-out, cutout, or cut out may refer to: * Cutout animation * Cutout (electric power distribution), a combination fuse and knife switch used on power poles * Cutout (espionage), a mechanism used to pass information * Cut-out (philately), an impr ...

''. If the imprinted stamp is then trimmed around the edges, it is known as cut to shape. It is a ''full corner'' if it has the complete corner of the envelope with side and back flaps attached. Today collectors much prefer to keep postal stationery items intact, because cutting destroys the

postal history Postal history is the study of postal systems and how they operate and, or, the study of the use of postage stamps and covers and associated postal artifacts illustrating historical episodes in the development of postal systems. The term is att ...

, the

knife A knife ( : knives; from Old Norse 'knife, dirk') is a tool or weapon with a cutting edge or blade, usually attached to a handle or hilt. One of the earliest tools used by humanity, knives appeared at least 2.5 million years ago, as evidenced ...

of the stamped envelope, the

postmark A postmark is a postal marking made on an envelope, parcel, postcard or the like, indicating the place, date and time that the item was delivered into the care of a postal service, or sometimes indicating where and when received or in transit. ...

and any receiving marks.

Usage

Some countries permitted the use of a cut-out imprinted stamp to pay postage on another item of mail. This is also known as a

. Items of postal stationery with an imprinted stamp are sometimes found with adhesive stamps added to pay for additional services such as

airmail Airmail (or air mail) is a mail transport service branded and sold on the basis of at least one leg of its journey being by air. Airmail items typically arrive more quickly than surface mail, and usually cost more to send. Airmail may be the ...

registration Register or registration may refer to: Arts entertainment, and media Music * Register (music), the relative "height" or range of a note, melody, part, instrument, etc. * ''Register'', a 2017 album by Travis Miller * Registration (organ), th ...

or the part transport of mail by a local postal service. Such covers are known as ''conjunctive covers'', and such use is known as a conjunctive use. Placement of the adhesive stamp in addition to the imprinted stamp in order to pay a higher postal rate is called "''uprated''" (Spanish= ''franqueos complementarios'').Littrell, Robert, Ed.; ''Postal Cards of Spanish Colonial Cuba, Philippines and Puerto Rico'', UPSS, 2010; This term also applies when an imprinted or embossed stamp is overprinted or handstamped to increase the face value.

References

External links

{{commons category, Imprinted stamps
The British Postal Museum & Archive: First British pre-paid postcard.
Philatelic terminology Postal stationery